Browse Options:

The interesting six-jurisdiction patent case between two of the world’s leading enzyme manufacturers, the Danish companies Danisco A/S (now part of DuPont) and Novozymes A/S has already been subject to earlier blogs both here and several times on EPLAW and PatLit. To recap the story briefly, Novozymes started the proceedings by applying for a preliminary injunction against Danisco on the basis of its EP patent 1 804 592 (“the Patent”) in Denmark, and obtained it following a lengthy trial, and then won again in first instance proceedings in the Netherlands where the Rechtsbank held the patent valid and infringed. Shortly thereafter, however, the tide turned and the patent was revoked i [...]

Affiliates

Summer UPC Quiz

2. Which of the following is NOT a seat of the UPC arbitration centre?

Ljubljana
Lisbon
Bucharest

3. Where is the UPC judges training centre?

Budapest
Munich
Trier

4. Approximately how much income would be generated for the UPC if all existing European patent owners opted their patents out of the UPC system based on the current proposed opt out fee in the UPC court fees consultation published on 8 May?

10 million
30 million
50 million

5. When the Preparatory Committee called for expressions of interest for the position of Judge of the UPC, how many people responded?

500
900
1300

6. What nationality must the first President of the UPC court of first instance be?

French
German
Luxembourgish

7. What is the minimum fee to start a UPC infringement action based on the current proposed fees in the UPC court fees consultation published on 8 May?

3,000
11,000
20,000

8. Under the 17th draft Rules, who has to opt out EPs if they wish to do so?

The persons on the EPO register
The persons on all relevant national registers
The person(s) who actually owns the EP regardless of what any register says

9. Which is NOT a criterion for future UPC legal judges?

They must be entitled to be judges in their own state
They must be experienced in patent law
They must be able to speak English

10. Which of the following persons was NOT on the UPC Rules Committee?

Kevin Mooney
Benoit Battistelli
Winfried Tilmann

11. In which language are UPC appeals conducted?

English
The Language of the patent
The language of the first instance case

12. In what language or languages will the proposed Swedish/Lithuanian/Latvian/Estonian Regional division operate?

All four national languages
Swedish and English
English

13. May the Court give a decision immediately after the closure of the oral hearing and provide its reasons on a subsequent date?

Yes
No
Exceptionally

14. According to the UPCA, which Regulation had to be amended before the UP could come into effect?

44/2001
1215/2012
1257/2012

15. In order for local division to be staffed by two local legally qualified judges, a certain number of cases must have been heard by the local national court in the previous three years. How many cases?

50 or more
More than 50
More than 100

16. If a country has had at least 220 cases, but never more than 285 cases in each of the 5 years up to the creation of the Court, how many individual local divisions can that country host?

Two
Three
Four

17. What is the term of office of UPC judges?

5 years
6 years
10 years

18. What is the retirement age of UPC judges?

65
75
There is none

19. Which EP Patent applications will NOT be eligible for unitary effect? Those filed before:

1 January 2007
1 March 2007
19 February 2013

20. Which is the most accurate characterisation of r.40(b)?

The rule outlaws bifurcation
The rule makes bifurcation less likely
The rule will have no effect on bifurcation practice

Book Spotlight

Nuno Pires de Carvalho

The author presents 80 cases that interpret the various public policies that mould the interface of intellectual property law with competition law (or antitrust). Although most cases are from the United States – which has developed an enormously wide wealth of jurisprudence in this area – the work includes cases from the European Union, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, South Africa, Brazil, South Korea, India, and Argentina.